Updated

02/27/2015 - 5:15pm

Bengali American blogger Avijit Roy, an atheist, "carried a huge target on his back" in increasingly conservative Bangladesh for his writings. His death by machete on Thursday is just the latest sign that religious dissent is under threat in Roy's native country.

"You have to think about where you invest your time and your energy and your love, because you don’t want to waste it," says Omar Solis, a gay American student in Mexico trying to figure out how to live openly. "But that’s what it takes."

Plenty of religions tell their members that masturbation is a sin, but few are willing to go to the lengths of ultra-Orthodox Jews to make sure the rule is followed. That struggle is the subject of a new documentary, "Sacred Sperm," from an ultra-Orthodox filmmaker who lives that temptation.

Hundreds of people have left Germany to join extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, like ISIS. While police have ramped up efforts to stem the flow, another way Germany is addressing the problem is by expanding Islamic education.

Red envelopes are a traditional gift in Chinese societies during the Lunar New Year, often given out by married couples to their single family members, but that tradition can be awkward for LGBT couples, who aren't widely accepted. Now a Hong Kong group is using red envelopes for a different purpose.

The city of Marseille, France’s second biggest, is home to the country’s largest Muslim population. About one in four of its residents are Muslims. Yet you’d be hard pressed to find a single proper mosque in town.

The Dalai Lama prohibits his followers from praying to what he considers the malevolent deity of Dorje Shugden. But adherents of this practice, many of them western converts, say the Tibetan religious leader is guilty of persecution.

In France, government-funded agencies help people save their loved ones from so-called cults. But that list includes groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and, not too long ago, Baptists. Some of them are now fighting back in courts.

In 1950, singles were just 22 percent of the adult population. Now, they've taken over. More than half of American adults are single, and that may have some surprising benefits — from the way people join civic groups and socialize to how they take part in the lives of their hometowns.

Saudi Arabia may be the only country where women aren't allowed to drive, but it’s not the only place where woman are forbidden from getting behind the wheel. It even happens in some communities in the US.

Nicole Ponseca, founder of Maharlika and Jeepney in the East Village, wants Filipino food to stand on its own two feet in the American market. Unlike what some of her contemporaries have said, she thinks America is ready for offals.

Muslims are required to pray five times a day — at specific times, no matter what they're doing. For New York City's Muslim cab drivers, roughly half of the 40,000 people driving cabs, that means stopping their cabs wherever they are to pray.

The US citizenship has an amazingly high pass rate — but it also has a number of critics. They argue the questions, frankly, are bad. And the test doesn't encourage immigrants to become better citizens, but rather to memorize facts they can write on the test.

Nicole Ponseca, founder of Maharlika and Jeepney in the East Village, wants Filipino food to stand on its own two feet in the American market. Unlike what some of her contemporaries have said, she thinks America is ready for offals.

Muslims are required to pray five times a day — at specific times, no matter what they're doing. For New York City's Muslim cab drivers, roughly half of the 40,000 people driving cabs, that means stopping their cabs wherever they are to pray.

It's neither shaken nor stirred, but it's a beverage that James Bond would have enjoyed just as much: Coffee made with a brewer called a Chemex. The British spy's method of choice is actually Made in the USA at a factory in Massachusetts, so anyone can learn to brew Bond-style coffee.

Some Muslims have had enough of being told they should apologize for violent Islamic extremists. After President Obama brought the subject up at the UN, many Muslims took to Twitter to sarcastically say "sorry" for everything from algebra to coffee to colorful hijabs.

Saudi Arabia may be the only country where women aren't allowed to drive, but it’s not the only place where woman are forbidden from getting behind the wheel. It even happens in some communities in the US.

The Dalai Lama prohibits his followers from praying to what he considers the malevolent deity of Dorje Shugden. But adherents of this practice, many of them western converts, say the Tibetan religious leader is guilty of persecution.

As the Sydney hostage crisis unfolded, some Australians feared their Muslim neighbors would be targeted for harassment and abuse. So, starting with Melbourne's Tessa Kum, they volunteered to ride the trains and buses alongside Muslims, using a hashtag that exploded in a matter of hours.

Since the tragic attack at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, there have been a lot of questions about how Islam views depiction of the Prophet Muhammed. So, can you or can't you draw the Prophet?